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News / Light winds on the Blackwater

Blackwater SC Fireball open meeting. 

Even with the light wind forecast a healthy fleet of 24 Fireballs made it to the River Blackwater for the clubs annual open. Saturdays race started in a light but promising breeze. The fleet got away first time with Ian Dobson & RichardWagstaff rounding the windward mark first followed by the clubs fleet captain Charlie Stewart. Down the first reach the wind all but died and with what little there was being patchy to say the least a few place changes took place. Steve Jarred & Nick Collins held on to their spinnaker the longest and looked to take the lead, however it was Tom Gillard & Richard Anderson followed by Dave Hall & Paul Constable thatsqueezed around the gybe mark first. With the race shortened at the leeward mark these two positions stayed the same with Ian & Richard recovering to 4th behind Peter & Tom Kyne. With it looking like no more wind would be forthcoming and a falling tide the fleet were sent home and later enjoyed a fish and chip supper.

Sundays forecast was a little more promising but with the heavy thunder showers and hot sunshine it made the task for the race officer extremely challenging as the wind swung around the estuary. After a delay and an aborted start the fleet eventually got away in the lightest of winds. The light wind lead to some rather overzealous but often not very effect role tacking, one such incident had the team of Lucy & Tim Riley overdo it somewhat ending up in a swim for Lucy as their sails hit the water and the mast got stuck in the mud. Ian & Richard once again were on the ball and got off the line wellfollowed by Tom & Richard. Moments after the start the wind shifted and filled in from the right making the first beat into a reach. However, the race officer seeing that no one had been disadvantaged let the race carry on. With the beat becoming a reach and the reaches a beat it lead to a bit of confusion with which buoy to go to and a number of teams including Tom & Richard  deciding to go to the gybe mark in place of the windward mark. In the end Ian & Richard held onto the lead followed in by Simon & Tom Maskell.

With the wind still not wanting to play ball it was tough, butthe race team were determined to get another race startedeventually getting it away again in the lightest of breeze. Off the start line it was again Ian and Richard who were placed well along with Richard Cornes & James Goodfellow. However down to leeward Dave & Paul and Peter & Tompulled out from the fleet with Peter & Tom taking out what looked like a huge lead only to be swallowed up at the first mark by the fleet as they closed in on a zephyr from behind. Mark Maskell & Nigel Sheppard took full advantage of it rounding the top mark first – a position they held onto the finish in spite of a strong challenge from Ian & Richard.

Blackwater did a great job under very difficult conditionsmaking everyone very welcome. A big thanks must go to Barry Foulds – long suffering PRO and his team and toCharlie and the club members he rallied to help run a great weekend.

 

Rank

Fleet

Boat

Class

SailNo

Club

HelmName

CrewName

Rating

R1

R2

R3

Total

Nett

1st

 

 

 

15093

 

Ian Dobson

RichardWagstaff

 

4.0

1.0

2.0

7.0

7.0

2nd

 

 

 

14860

Brightlingsea

Peter Kyne

Tom Kyne

 

3.0

5.0

4.0

12.0

12.0

3rd

 

 

 

15066

BSC

Mark Maskell

NigelSheppherd

 

7.0

6.0

1.0

14.0

14.0

4th

 

 

 

15100

BSC

Dave Hall

Paul Constable

 

2.0

7.0

5.0

14.0

14.0

5th

 

 

 

14886

Hunts SC

SimonMaskell

Tom Maskell

 

5.0

2.0

11.0

18.0

18.0

6th

 

 

 

14317

BSC

Steve Jarred

Nick Collins

 

6.0

11.0

3.0

20.0

20.0

7th

 

 

 

14801

 

RichardCornes

JamesGoodfellow

 

12.0

4.0

10.0

26.0

26.0

8th

Fireball

Walkabout 3

 

14905

BSC

Charlie Stewart

Josh Kuhl

 

9.0

8.0

9.0

26.0

26.0

9th

 

 

 

15102

BSC

Martin Scarth

Tony KIng

 

8.0

16.0

7.0

31.0

31.0

10th

 

 

 

14229

 

Geoff Holden

Sophie Holden

 

15.0

9.0

8.0

32.0

32.0

11th

 

 

 

15081

 

Tom Gillard

RichardAnderton

 

1.0

10.0

25.0 DNC

36.0

36.0

12th

 

 

 

14885

 

Fiona Gray

Ian Davidson

 

11.0

14.0

13.0

38.0

38.0

13th

 

 

 

14682

 

Mike Bryant

Keith Taft

 

19.0

15.0

6.0

40.0

40.0

14th

 

 

 

15041

BSC

Maria Richards

Graham Hoy

 

14.0

3.0

25.0DNF

42.0

42.0

15th

 

 

 

14948

BSC

Nigel Clark

Judy Kuhl

 

16.0

12.0

17.0

45.0

45.0

16th

 

 

 

14798

BSC

Lucy Riley

Tim Riley

 

21.0

17.0

12.0

50.0

50.0

17th

 

 

 

14857

BSC

GeorgeWhitchurch

Brian Gibson

 

13.0

22.0

16.0

51.0

51.0

18th

 

 

 

14982

BSC

Ted Coday

Ben Phipps

 

20.0

18.0

14.0

52.0

52.0

19th

 

 

 

14982

BSC

Mike Pearce

Steve Ash

 

18.0

19.0

15.0

52.0

52.0

20th

 

 

 

1506

HBSC

Mark Batt

Tony Everitt

 

17.0

13.0

25.0 DNF

55.0

55.0

21st

 

 

 

14887

BSC

BryanSargeant

WillSargeant

 

10.0

25.0 DNC

25.0 DNC

60.0

60.0

22nd

 

 

 

14284

BSC

Rorie Ash

Frankie Ash

 

22.0

20.0

25.0 DNC

67.0

67.0

23rd

 

 

 

14805

BSC

Drac Norman

Alex Norman

 

23.0

21.0

25.0 DNF

69.0

69.0

24th

 

 

 

14924

BSC

Brett Townsend

Dave Nicholls

 

25.0 DNF

25.0 DNF

25.0 DNC

75.0

75.0

 

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